A Dhaka court on Monday sent two leaders of the BNP and its student wing, Chhatra Dal, to jail in a case filed over the snatching of gold jewelry in Dhaka airport area.
The court also fixed Tuesday for hearing their bail petitions.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Hasan Shahadat passed the order after the accused were produced before the court following a one-day remand. Abu Bakkar, a sub-inspector of the Prosecution Department, confirmed the matter.
The accused are Al-Amin Hasan Shanto, general secretary of the Airport Thana unit of Chhatra Dal, and Md Abdur Rouf, president of the Airport unit of BNP.
Kamrul Hasan, officer-in-charge of Airport Police Station, told Dhaka Tribune that the two were produced before the court on Monday after completing their one-day remand.
The court had earlier granted police one day’s remand for each of them after investigators sought three days to question them.
The incident took place on the night of August 28 in front of Balaka Bhaban on the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway in the Airport area.
On August 29, Md Sumon filed a case with Airport Police Station over the incident.
Police later analyzed CCTV footage and conducted an operation to arrest people allegedly involved in the incident.
On August 30, investigating officer Sub-Inspector Sabbir Hossain produced the accused before the court and sought three days’ remand. The court granted one day’s remand for each.
After the remand period ended, the investigating officer sought an order to keep the accused in jail.
In the application, the investigating officer said the accused had provided information about the incident during interrogation, which was still being verified.
The application also said there was a strong possibility that the accused could go into hiding and hamper the investigation if released on bail.
The investigating officer therefore sought their detention in jail in the interest of a proper investigation and justice.
At Monday’s hearing, defense lawyer Abdul Rahman sought time for the bail petitions to be heard on Tuesday. The court subsequently sent the accused to jail and fixed Tuesday for the bail hearing.
What the FIR says
According to the First Information Report (FIR), the complainant said his elder brother, Kawsar, is an expatriate living in Malaysia.
On August 28, Kawsar sent 200 grams of gold jewelry from Malaysia for his sister’s wedding and family use.
Later that evening, around 8pm, the complainant and his friend Rohan Chowdhury collected the jewelry from an acquaintance of Kawsar at the airport.
They then traveled in a rented microbus and got off opposite Balaka Bhaban on the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway.
The FIR says the accused allegedly surrounded them as soon as they got out of the microbus and beat them after accusing them of being involved in Awami League and Chhatra League politics.
The accused also allegedly claimed that the two were carrying bombs.
At one point, the accused allegedly snatched the 200 grams of gold jewelry and fled the scene.
The FIR says the accused quickly left the area as people began gathering at the scene.
The FIR names four people as accused: Abdur Rouf, 40, president of the Airport unit of BNP; Ripon, 27, president of the Airport Thana unit of JCD; Al-Amin Shanto, 27, general secretary of the Airport Thana unit of JCD; and Rubel, 32, general secretary of an Airport ward unit of BNP.